A Tool to Assess Patient and Surrogate Knowledge about the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Program

Abstract

Context It is especially important that patients are well-informed when making high stakes, preference-sensitive decisions like those on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. However, there is currently no way to easily evaluate whether patients understand key concepts when making these important decisions.

Objectives To develop a POLST knowledge survey.

Methods Expert (n = 62) ratings of key POLST facts were used to select items for a POLST Knowledge Survey. The survey was administered to nursing facility residents (n = 97) and surrogate decision-makers (n = 112). A subset (n = 135) were re-administered the survey after a standardized advance care planning discussion to assess responsiveness of the scale to change.

Results The 19-item survey demonstrated adequate reliability (α = 0.72.). Residents’ scores (x = 11.4, standard deviation 3.3) were significantly lower than surrogate scores (x = 14.7, standard deviation 2.5) (p < .001). Scores for both groups increased significantly following administration of a standardized advance care planning discussion (p < .001). Although being a surrogate, age, race, education, cognitive functioning, and health literacy were significantly associated with higher POLST Knowledge Survey scores in univariate analyses, only being a surrogate (p < 0.001) and being white (p = 0.028) remained significantly associated with higher scores in multivariate analyses.

Conclusion The 19-item POLST Knowledge Survey demonstrated adequate reliability and responsiveness to change. Findings suggest the survey could be used to identify knowledge deficits and provide targeted education to ensure adequate understanding of key clinical decisions when completing POLST.